Czech Philharmonic

Named Gramophone’s Orchestra of the Year in 2024, the Czech Philharmonic is recognised as one of the world’s leading orchestras and remains the Czech Republic’s key cultural ambassador. Combining a deep-rooted musical tradition with an international artistic outlook, the orchestra, now in its 131^st season, continues to expand its profile both at home and abroad through major tours, residencies and award-winning recordings. 

During the 2024 Year of Czech Music, the Czech Philharmonic and its Chief Conductor and Music Director Semyon Bychkov were invited to give a three-day residency at New York’s Carnegie Hall. The same year, their recording of Smetana’s Má vlast (My Country) was released and went onto win the 2025 BBC Music Magazine Orchestral Award. In addition to Czech music, the orchestra’s long-standing relationship with composers such as Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Mahler has resulted in a series of benchmark recordings. In 2019, the Czech Philharmonic released The Tchaikovsky Project, and 2026, completed its first new cycle of Mahler symphonies since Václav Neumann more than 40 years ago. The orchestra’s association with Mahler is historic: in 1908, the composer himself conducted the Czech Philharmonic in the world premiere of his Seventh Symphony. Its next release with Bychkov features Shostakovich’s Symphony Nos. 5 and 7. 

The 131^st season opens in Prague with Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, featuring Artist-in-Residence Janine Jansen, and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7. Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony appears on Bychkov and the orchestra’s 2024 PENTATONE recording together with Symphony Nos. 8 and 9. Jansen also joins the Czech Philharmonic on its first tour in over 50 years to Sweden and Finland, including an appearance at Helsinki Festival. Further touring highlights include concerts in Belgium, France, Spain and the Netherlands, a return to Lucerne Festival, and residencies at London’s Barbican Centre, Vienna’s Musikverein and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. At home, the orchestra performs at the Rudolfinum in Prague and at leading Czech festivals including Dvořák Prague, Prague Spring, Smetana Litomyšl, and for the first time, Janáček Brno.

Má vlast returns this season in performances with Bychkov, alongside works by Mussorgsky, Ravel, Adams, Strauss, Glanert and Britten. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, performed with the Prague Philharmonic Choir, marks the 200^th anniversary of the composer’s death in 2027. Rachmaninoff is a major focus, with orchestral works and piano concertos presented both in Prague and on tour, including Piano Concerto No. 3 with Behzod Abduraimov, as well as Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and Piano Concerto No. 2 with Seong-Jin Cho. 

Chief Conductor and Music Director Designate Jakub Hrůša and Principal Guest Conductor Simon Rattle both return this season. Rattle leads six subscription concerts featuring Barber, Shostakovich, Debussy and the Czech premiere of Composer-in-Residence Thomas Adès’s Aquifer. Yuja Wang appears in Barber’s Piano Concerto, and Janine Jansen performs Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 1 before returning for Beethoven’s Violin Concerto under Hrůša. 

Hrůša, appointed as the orchestra’s next Chief Conductor and Music Director – Renáta Kellnerová Chair – from the 2028/2029 season, also conducts Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier Suite, Suk’s Dramatic Overture (recorded for PENTATONE) and the world premiere of Martin Smolka’s Melancholia Is Sitting and Looking Elsewhere. 

The Czech Philharmonic continues to attract leading international artists. Guest conductors this season include Vasily Petrenko, David Robertson, Herbert Blomstedt, Elim Chan, Charles Dutoit, Maxim Emilyanchev, Andrea Marcon, and Daniel Harding who closes the subscription season with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Thomas Adès also returns to Prague to conduct works by Sibelius and Elgar, alongside his own Märchentänze. Soloists this season include Karen Gomyo, Radek Baborák, Yunchan Lim, Mao Fujita, Andrew Staples, Fleur Barron, Kristina Mkhitaryan, Pavel Černoch, Aleksei Isaev, and Kirill Gerstein, who gives the Czech premiere of Adès’s In Seven Days and appears with the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra to play and conduct Beethoven’s Piano Concertos.

The Czech Philharmonic’s distinguished history reflects the Czech Republic’s complex political past and its central European location. An early champion of the music of Martinů and Janáček, the Czech Philharmonic gave its first concert in 1896 with an all-Dvořák programme conducted by the composer itself. At the start of his tenure in 2018, Semyon Bychkov initiated the commissioning of new works from nine Czech composers as well as five international composers including Detlev Glanert, Julian Anderson, Thomas Larcher, Bryce Dessner and Thierry Escaich. 

Alongside its commitment to championing Czech composers, the orchestra’s belief in the power of music to transform lives remains a defining principle. As early as the 1920s, Václav Talich, pioneered concerts for workers, young people and voluntary organisations. The Czech Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, Orchestral Academy, and Jiří Bělohlávek Prize for young musicians, form part of the orchestra’s education strategy which engages with more than 400 schools. An inspirational music and song programme led by Ida Kelarová continues to help give voice to the Romany communities, supporting social inclusion through music. 

Jan Mráček, concertmaster
Jiří Vodička, concertmaster
Irena Jakubcová, 1st violin
Magdaléna Mašlaňová, 1st violin
Luboš Dudek, 1st violin
Jan Jouza, 1st violin
Bohumil Kotmel, 1st violin
Jiří Kubita, 1st violin
Lenka Machová, 1st violin
Pavel Nechvíle, 1st violin
Helena Skopová, 1st violin
Zdeněk Starý, 1st violin
Jindřich Vácha, 1st violin
Milan Vavřínek, 1st violin
Miroslav Vilímec, 1st violin
Zdeněk Zelba, 1st violin
Petra Brabcová, 2nd violin
Markéta Vokáčová, 2nd violin
Xenie Dohnalová, 2nd violin
Zuzana Hájková, 2nd violin
Petr Havlín, 2nd violin
Jitka Kokšová, 2nd violin
Marcel Kozánek, 2nd violin
Veronika Kozlovská, 2nd violin
Vítězslav Ochman, 2nd violin
Václav Prudil, 2nd violin
Jiří Ševčík, 2nd violin
Libor Vilímec, 2nd violin
Naďa Bubancová, 2nd violin
Anna Lichá, 2nd violin
Eva Krestová, viola
Pavel Ciprys, viola
Pavel Hořejší, viola
Ondřej Kameš, viola
Jan Mareček, viola
Ondřej Martinovský, viola
Jiří Řehák, viola
Jan Šimon, viola
Lukáš Valášek, viola
Silvestr Pavlíček, viola
Elnara Taghizade, viola
René Vácha, viola
Václav Petr, concertmaster
Adam Klánský, violoncello
Marek Novák, violoncello
Jan Holeňa, violoncello
Josef Špaček, violoncello
Štěpánka Plocková, violoncello
Eduard Šístek, violoncello
Filip Rufer, violoncello
Aneta Šudáková, violoncello
Tomáš Hostička, violoncello
Adam Honzírek, double bass
Petr Ries, double bass
Lukáš Holubík, double bass
Ondřej Balcar, double bass
Roman Koudelka, double bass
Jindřich Konvalinka, double bass
Václav Hořák, double bass
Jakub Kostka, double bass
Andrea Rysová, 1st flute
Naoki Sato, 1st flute
Roman Novotný, flute, piccolo
Petr Veverka, flute, piccolo
Jana Brožková, 1st oboe
Barbora Trnčíková, 1st oboe
Vladislav Borovka, oboe, english horn
Jiří Zelba, oboe, english horn
Jan Mach, 1st clarinet
Lukáš Dittrich, 1st clarinet
Petr Sinkule, clarinet, bass clarinet
Jana Lahodná, clarinet, E flat clarinet
Ondřej Roskovec, 1st bassoon
Jaroslav Kubita, 1st bassoon
Tomáš Františ, bassoon
Ondřej Šindelář, bassoon, contrabassoon
Jan Vobořil, 1st french horn
Kateřina Javůrková, 1st french horn
Jindřich Kolář, french horn
Jan ml. Vobořil ml., french horn
Alois Stavárek, french horn
Petra Čermáková, french horn
Stanislav Masaryk, 1st trumpet
Marek Vajo, trumpet
Lukáš Besuch, 1st trombone
Robert Kozánek, trombone
Karel Kučera, trombone
Jakub Chmelař, tuba
Michael Kroutil, timpani
Petr Holub, timpani, percussions
Daniel Mikolášek, percussions
Pavel Polívka, percussions
Jana Boušková, harp
Barbara Pazourová, harp
Alexandr Starý, celeste

Image: Petr Chodura